


Nothing better than a bitter sweet cup of canned beans.

by Clara_Watson



Category: Firefly, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Army, Brown Coats, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Firefly Verse, Gen, Indpendence, John's just a little baby doctor, Mal Reynolds is married, Multi, Other, POV John Watson, Zoe is lonely, awww, who reads tags?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-25 16:56:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4968898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clara_Watson/pseuds/Clara_Watson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. John Watson is a Doctor fighting for the Independence when he meets Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Washburne, and even when the war ends he still feels a strong connection with them.<br/>After years of hiding as an "Alliance" lover he decides to find his two old Army buddies and make things all well with them. (This description is subject to change D:)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A good doctor... or a can of beans?

Dr. John Watson was a young man, not yet accustomed to the chaos that was war. The Alliance certified bullets whizzed past him at unimaginable speeds as he ran for the next cover, cursing as his gun refused to fire. That was the trouble with wars like this; he'd picked the wrong side if he wanted to survived, but Watson was determined he'd picked the right side morally. Watson wrapped his brown coat tightly around himself, keeping his medical bag close as he scanned for survivors, not that this war granted much that opportunity. 

A bullet whizzed past the young Doctor's head-this time from the Independence's side-Watson cursed, throwing his hands up in surrender and searching for where the bullet came from. A woman emerged, strong and tanned, without a hint of a smile on her face; she nodded behind Watson to a dead Alliance officer and Watson's eyes widened in apprehension. 

"Thank you." Watson replied, hastily making his way over to where the woman was now pointing beside her, "Doctor John Watson. My regiments all dead, I was just looking for survivors." 

"Zoe Alleyne, my regiments still alive. Are you a good Doctor?" She pushed John into a small tunnel, hitting the bottom of his blood soaked boots to tell him to keep moving forward.

"I like to think so," Watson said grimly, not daring to smile under the harsh circumstances. He'd saved lots of lives with the limited supplies he was given by what was left of the independence. Zoe grunted, almost with a smile, but John couldn't be sure. He really couldn't be sure of anything anymore.

"We could do with an extra Doctor, Reynolds is running out of fresh blood to throw around." Watson nodded timidly, "This left." It was a wonder that Zoe could navigate the tunnel, Watson thought, there was no light at all. Watson was having a hard time not falling over his own hands. He found the turning, and before he could say 'wow' he was falling-only a metre or so-into a pit that was perfectly set up for hiding from the Alliance.

He was greeted with the rank smell of burning flesh, and the moans of wounded men. Zoe helped him up, nodding and wiping grime off of her face.

"It's not always this bad," Zoe smiled as if it had scared off hundreds of Doctor's before him. Watson shrugged, his eyes adjusting to the light. There was a sharp yell at the light dimmed, another woman stalking towards them, a medical bag in her hand and a gun on her hip.

"Where's my Gorram husband?" She snapped at Zoe, shoving the medical bag into Zoe's chest and making sure her gun was loaded.

"Off collecting food rations from the fallen." The woman rolled her eyes dramatically, Watson could sense a feeling of anxiety radiating through her body. She snatched her medical bag off Zoe again and blinked rapidly.

"Mind he doesn't get shot."

"Yes Ma'am." Zoe replied, pushing herself back into the tunnel, "Dr. John Watson, found him looking for work." Zoe yelled as she disappeared down the tunnel. The woman smiled, extending her hand to John who shook it.

"Dr. Anita Reynolds," The woman smiled, "I'd appreciate some help when the time comes." Watson nodded awkwardly as Anita pointed out the main parts of the little cave, and the re-invented triage system and quarantine, and then how to run the alert lights-which were was Watson and Zoe had been caught in when they'd fallen into the cave. Anita pulled her brown hair into a rough bun and picked a can of beans out of a trunk and threw them to John who caught them thankfully. "You look famished." Anita smiled lightly, "Bunks are in the back. Get sleep while you can."

John had smiled, eaten the beans and found a spare hammock to sleep in. It was the first time since the start of the war that Dr. John Watson actually felt safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter one! :D Please tell me what I did well/Rubbish, ways to improve, and what you liked! Thanks :D


	2. Once upon an evening of war.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal comes back and everyone meets him!! Hooray!! :D Enjoy! More beans!!

"Honey I'm home!" Was the greeting that rose Watson from his feverish sleep, Watson sat up in his hammock as Anita ran across the cave, jumping into the man's arms as he swung her around, Zoe actually smiling behind the two of them. When Anita was put down on the ground she slapped the man-presumably her husband-and started screaming a variety of phrases that Watson had never heard before, the man just taking it.

"And this is Doctor John Watson." Anita smiled, pointing to John and calling him over, the man threw a sack of canned beans into the trunk.

"Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds, really appreciating your help." He ruffled his unkempt hair and scratched at his stubble, "But whatever you do, you're not banging my wife. Not ever." Watson nodded sharply, smiling just a little encase Sergeant Reynolds had meant it as a joke.

"No banging the wife," Watson confirmed, causing both women to giggle slightly. Anita ran a hand over her husband's face, tutting at him and dragging him to the washing basin. Zoe grinned cheekily, placing a hand on John's shoulder.

"He's not joking, John," Zoe smiled playfully ruffling John's hair. "Anita's a strong willed woman, but so is Mal. Those two are inseparable. But if they get into a fight, this war wouldn't mean anything. More people would die in them fighting with each other than ever before." John nodded, his eyes wide, as he watched Anita laugh while Mal tackled her. He'd never seen someone so madly in love in the face of war. 

"So where you from, Doctor?" Mal called, wrapping his arm around Anita and dragging them over to Zoe and John.

"A little moon just out of Shadow, you probably wouldn't have heard of it." John smiled quietly, but Anita's face lit up in recognition.

"Myra?" John nodded eagerly, glad that someone else knew his home moon. Anita's laugh was a light jingle and she clasped her husband's hand, "I grew up there! Mal was off world carting cattle when I met him, and I bought my own ship just so I could get to Shadow to see him." John laughed with a grin that he tried to smother as Mal's eyes narrowed at him, then shot to Zoe. 

"Surprised we never met on Myra then." John added, his eyes sinking to the ground as Mal's body posture stiffened. "What can I help with?" Anita pointed to the wash basin with a small smile, grabbing Mal's hand.

"Wash up over there and we'll start preparing dinner, Mal brought back food." Watson nodded awkwardly as Anita whispered into Mal's ear and he visibly relaxed, wrapping his arms around her in a way John had ever seen in the face of the war. John smiled, watching as the two of them, so madly in love, could be so happy while everyone around them was dying. 

Mal and Anita greeted each soldier as they began to filter in through the cave hole, storing the guns at the entrance on a rack, and pointing them off to where the wounded would sit, and where the uninjured would collect their dinner. There were only two wounded men, Anita saw to them without hesitation, then beckoned John over to her.

"One can of beans between three," Anita smiled, pushing three wooden bowls to him, "And a little less for the seriously injured ones, no point them throwing it back up." John nodded, doing as Anita asked, Mal and Zoe handing out the bowls of beans. 

It felt like hours before Anita, Mal and Zoe sat down with their own bowl of beans, Anita asking if John wanted some. He shook his head politely, still full from his own can only hours before, and sat with them. Anita curled on Mal's chest, occasionally playfully snatching beans out of Mal's bowl.

Watson blushed as everyone finished, Mal dragging Anita away into a small cove that even made Zoe blush. Watson didn't even want to imagine what they did back there-and Watson was even more perplexed by the lot of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've met Mal!! :D Yay!! Hope you enjoyed!! Please leave help/love/stuff that's nice in the comments below!!


	3. Everybody gets lost in the woods sometime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance finds them... and things don't go exactly to plan!

John was woken in the early hours of the morning, by an all too familiar sound of war. Anita thrust a gun into John hands nodding to the entrance of the cave. Mal and Zoe were already shooting down Alliance that came in two by a two, a growing body of dead soldiers beginning to block the opening to the cave, John followed suit.

It felt like hours, and hours, John running out of bullets and grabbing the next mans gun. Fatigue ebbed at John, he became a robot, just one man dead after another. But it was the scream that pulled John out of his tranced state. He'd turned, looking around for where he'd heard it from. Zoe was fine. Mal was fine. Anita... oh.

John wasn't sure how to react when Anita went down, her face pale as pools of blood ebbed out of her stomach. Mal had scream in rage, and shot everyone in the front of the cave down in one go, taking out ten or twelve Independence soldiers. He grabbed Anita into his arms, holding her tight, with tears streaming down her face.

"No," he choked, kissing her forehead, "you can't go, I need you," Mal whispered, unable to talk at a normal level without choking. Anita smiled quietly, resting a hand on his cheek.

"We've done the impossible," Anita whispered, stroking her thumb against his blood strained cheek, "and that makes us mighty." Anita giggled, her eyes going distant, "you hold this place until back-up comes baby."

Mal shook his head, his chin wobbling, "No, no, no," he whispered, lowering her down to the ground and curling beside her, an arm wrapped tightly around her, "we're going to die here, I know it." Mal cried, sobbing into her shoulder and holding his hand against her stomach wound. Anita shook her head, grabbing Mal's face and smiling.

"You're not going to die," Anita smiled, "I am, but your not. You can't die, Malcolm, and you know why?" Mal shook his head, looking desperately into his dying wife's eyes, "Because you're so gorram beautiful. You're just too beautiful for God to let you die." Mal shook his head, wiping his face roughly.

"But you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met, why are you dying?" Mal asked as more tears streamed down his face.

"Cause my times up. My bullet's found me." Mal shook his head, "You die of all age before your bullet finds you." Mal wailed, holding Anita's head as a small tear escaped her eye, John knelt down beside her, checking if there was anything he could do to ease her pain. He jabbed her with a small dose of painkillers smiling sadly as they kicked in and she elevated herself just far enough to reach the back of Mal's head, "Malcolm, I love you," She whispered, pecking him lightly on the lips, "and you remember that," she closed her eyes and curled herself into Mal's side.

John watched silently as Anita's last breath escaped her, Anita's body growing limp in Mal's grip. Zoe stood watch at the tunnel entrance, her face a mask of emotion, her eyes completely dead. Mal was screaming into Anita's stomach. That was the moment John realised that he'd never seen a man broken by war, they'd seen their friends die but John had never before seen a man loose his wife. Most men's wives stayed at home, and the rest of the women were single and ready to die for their cause.

John took a step forward, grabbing Malcolm's wrist and dragging him away from his wife's body. John swore he'd come and bury Anita properly, but for now they had to get out; away from the Alliance.

It had taken years for John to figure out what Mal had figured out in seconds; they'd left a living Anita on the floor in the cave. Only just, but she had been living. Unconscious, yes, but alive. And when John figured that out, he finally understood what Mal had been screaming as he'd let off his steam at Zoe.

Everybody dies alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you... enjoyed? Sorry. Love/hate/niceness/improvitiy (that's not a real word) in the comments below please!!


End file.
